Anonymous
02/28/2015 18:31
Subject: It is not all about SES
Anonymous wrote:Harpers Magazine (the one with the essays) had a great article about this a few years ago. The premise was that most countries who do well on these tests offer free preschool, health care and food. Many many kids in the US start school unprepared because they can't afford decent pre-school, go to school hungry and are sick with no healthcare.
US kids don't start on the same playing field.
The US does not invest in education. The achievement gap is not to blame. You have Scott Walker who wants to cut the University of Wis system by $300M. Repubs push back on education spending. I won't even blame it on the Repubs b/c Dems don't really advocate for it either. Where are our state of the art programs, summer programs, making teaching as appealing as medicine instead of fighting the unions? Teaching is not where most students go. Many of us wanted to make money, not suffer financially and then be disrespected in the process.
Actually the US spends significantly more per student than almost every country you mentioned. What those countries have is a generally homogeneous high performing population.
Anonymous
02/28/2015 11:27
Subject: It is not all about SES
Harpers Magazine (the one with the essays) had a great article about this a few years ago. The premise was that most countries who do well on these tests offer free preschool, health care and food. Many many kids in the US start school unprepared because they can't afford decent pre-school, go to school hungry and are sick with no healthcare.
US kids don't start on the same playing field.
The US does not invest in education. The achievement gap is not to blame. You have Scott Walker who wants to cut the University of Wis system by $300M. Repubs push back on education spending. I won't even blame it on the Repubs b/c Dems don't really advocate for it either. Where are our state of the art programs, summer programs, making teaching as appealing as medicine instead of fighting the unions? Teaching is not where most students go. Many of us wanted to make money, not suffer financially and then be disrespected in the process.
US kids don't start on the same playing field.
The US does not invest in education. The achievement gap is not to blame. You have Scott Walker who wants to cut the University of Wis system by $300M. Repubs push back on education spending. I won't even blame it on the Repubs b/c Dems don't really advocate for it either. Where are our state of the art programs, summer programs, making teaching as appealing as medicine instead of fighting the unions? Teaching is not where most students go. Many of us wanted to make money, not suffer financially and then be disrespected in the process.
Anonymous
02/28/2015 09:06
Subject: Re:It is not all about SES
No child should go hungry. However, people need to acknowledge that you don't build wealth on welfare.
Anonymous
02/28/2015 09:01
Subject: It is not all about SES
Anonymous wrote:Closet the borders!!!!!!!!! It's obvious that diversity hurts academic achievement!
We need to go back to being homogeneous so this country can compete with Finland, China, South Korea...
So the good old days when......trying to remember that magical moment in history when the US did not have racial and economic diversity.....nope coming up blank.
Anonymous
02/27/2015 17:49
Subject: Re:It is not all about SES
Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile, if your kid is in a public school and can speak English, go to class regularly and stay out of trouble s/he is not a focus whatsoever. Other countries feed the top students and create more of them. The U.S. feeds (literally) its bottom students and wonders why most can't hack a STEM degree in college.
+1 We are going to live to regret this.
+2 Yep.
Anonymous
02/27/2015 16:48
Subject: Re:It is not all about SES
Meanwhile, if your kid is in a public school and can speak English, go to class regularly and stay out of trouble s/he is not a focus whatsoever. Other countries feed the top students and create more of them. The U.S. feeds (literally) its bottom students and wonders why most can't hack a STEM degree in college.
+1 We are going to live to regret this.
Anonymous
02/27/2015 16:03
Subject: It is not all about SES
It is not all about SES....
You're right, it's about PARENTING.
The country, schools and teachers cannot also play the role of your various offsprings' parent.
No amount of welfare money and programs and meals and donated goods will make up that gap, ever.
The U.S. has created a generational poverty and welfare trap a mile wide in some demographics. And it's only attracting more of the same.
In 20 years we'll find out what the unskilled Hispanic illegal immigrants are really made of - will they work themselves up in life or will they dig in to more welfare aid generation after generation.
Meanwhile, if your kid is in a public school and can speak English, go to class regularly and stay out of trouble s/he is not a focus whatsoever. Other countries feed the top students and create more of them. The U.S. feeds (literally) its bottom students and wonders why most can't hack a STEM degree in college.
You're right, it's about PARENTING.
The country, schools and teachers cannot also play the role of your various offsprings' parent.
No amount of welfare money and programs and meals and donated goods will make up that gap, ever.
The U.S. has created a generational poverty and welfare trap a mile wide in some demographics. And it's only attracting more of the same.
In 20 years we'll find out what the unskilled Hispanic illegal immigrants are really made of - will they work themselves up in life or will they dig in to more welfare aid generation after generation.
Meanwhile, if your kid is in a public school and can speak English, go to class regularly and stay out of trouble s/he is not a focus whatsoever. Other countries feed the top students and create more of them. The U.S. feeds (literally) its bottom students and wonders why most can't hack a STEM degree in college.
Anonymous
02/27/2015 09:00
Subject: It is not all about SES
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I thought the US has historically never performed well on these tests. We're just not that academic, apparently.
Nope, unlike most of the rest of the modern, industrialized world, a huge percentage of us still believe the world is only a few thousand years old and that Adam and Eve rode around saddled up on dinosaurs. We're a nation full of morons who don't value education.
This study is trying to say that no, the Americans don't compare well not just because we have a diverse population with pockets of high poverty, which has been an argument the apologists of our education system use when presented with the international rankings. There must be something deeply wrong with the education system that even our most privileged youth don't compare well with the advanced economies.
http://oilf.blogspot.com/2015/02/why-is-answer-always-innovation.html
This blogger thinks the education philosophy that we have in the country is a large part of it.
Anonymous
02/26/2015 21:21
Subject: It is not all about SES
Anonymous wrote:I thought the US has historically never performed well on these tests. We're just not that academic, apparently.
Nope, unlike most of the rest of the modern, industrialized world, a huge percentage of us still believe the world is only a few thousand years old and that Adam and Eve rode around saddled up on dinosaurs. We're a nation full of morons who don't value education.
Anonymous
02/26/2015 21:01
Subject: It is not all about SES
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Closet the borders!!!!!!!!! It's obvious that diversity hurts academic achievement!
We need to go back to being homogeneous so this country can compete with Finland, China, South Korea...
Did you read the article? It doesn't seem to matter if we were homogeneous since the affluent white didn't do that well compared to those countries.
And btw, I would not include China on that list since they only reported the test scores for the richest cities like Shanghai, Macau, and Hong Kong.
Every bit of education energy in this country seems to be spent on eliminating the "gap". It's no surprise that the top students here aren't doing as well; if they improve the gap widens.
...and our liberal leaders of this country can't/won't have that. SHowing improvement at the top which then widens the gap can't happen! SO NO improvement at the top is allowed.
Anonymous
02/26/2015 20:59
Subject: It is not all about SES
I thought the US has historically never performed well on these tests. We're just not that academic, apparently.
Anonymous
02/26/2015 20:14
Subject: It is not all about SES
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Closet the borders!!!!!!!!! It's obvious that diversity hurts academic achievement!
We need to go back to being homogeneous so this country can compete with Finland, China, South Korea...
Did you read the article? It doesn't seem to matter if we were homogeneous since the affluent white didn't do that well compared to those countries.
And btw, I would not include China on that list since they only reported the test scores for the richest cities like Shanghai, Macau, and Hong Kong.
Every bit of education energy in this country seems to be spent on eliminating the "gap". It's no surprise that the top students here aren't doing as well; if they improve the gap widens.
Anonymous
02/26/2015 19:11
Subject: It is not all about SES
Anonymous wrote:Closet the borders!!!!!!!!! It's obvious that diversity hurts academic achievement!
We need to go back to being homogeneous so this country can compete with Finland, China, South Korea...
Did you read the article? It doesn't seem to matter if we were homogeneous since the affluent white didn't do that well compared to those countries.
And btw, I would not include China on that list since they only reported the test scores for the richest cities like Shanghai, Macau, and Hong Kong.
Anonymous
02/26/2015 19:09
Subject: It is not all about SES
Closet the borders!!!!!!!!! It's obvious that diversity hurts academic achievement!
We need to go back to being homogeneous so this country can compete with Finland, China, South Korea...
We need to go back to being homogeneous so this country can compete with Finland, China, South Korea...
Anonymous
02/25/2015 18:44
Subject: It is not all about SES
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Rich shanghiese will blow your socks off on any test. Funny how china only sends that province's data.
Yes we know America is a hodgepodge of students. You think that would make the state or locality more in charge of the curriculum and projects. But no, instead it just got federalize do by Obamas common core standards and tests!
Cheating is rampant in China though I'm surprised they wouldn't use more districts unless they don't bother cheating on the Pisa.
If you just used Massachusett's Pisa scores we're 5th in the world. It's all relative
Wasn't there a thread about how cheating is rampant in the W schools in MCPS, and some are taking adhd rx to help them focus better?